


Heartbeats

by phantomchajo



Series: The Misadventures Universe [13]
Category: SilverHawks
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-01-14
Packaged: 2018-01-08 16:11:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1134761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomchajo/pseuds/phantomchajo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A meeting to mend what was broken between two women turns deadly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heartbeats

 

Heart Beats  
by PhantomChajo

_~Four hours ago~_

In the hanger bay of Hawk Haven, Will and Emily stood together talking softly before he was to leave on patrol with the others.

"You sure about this sis?" he asked.

"Yeah. She said she'd talk if only I showed up," Emily replied, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down at the deck plating.

"I hope you know what you're doing and I wish I could go with you," Will said, glancing at the other 'Hawks that were gathering by the Maraj.

Emily nodded then looked up at her brother. "It's taken weeks and an epidemic that ended in the death of hundreds to get her to finally answer my calls. I'm not about to throw this chance away. If I showed up with anyone else, she'd think I was betraying her again. Once was too much already."

"I know sis, I know." He reached out and gave her a hug. "I'm a thought away if anything happens. We'll be there before you know it the way the Cowboy flies."

Emily chuckled and shook her head. "Defiantly. You better get going little brother. Looks like silver britches is getting impatient," she threw a glance in Quicksilver's direction.

He chuckled and shook his head also. "You're bad," with that he turned and headed over to the others, looking over his shoulder at her once more. "If you need anything, just yell."

She smiled and headed to the lift. She had a few things she needed to take care of before she headed to Fense and the designated meeting spot.

_~Now~_

Emily screamed in pain, mentally as well as vocally as the clawed hand of Mon*Star slashed downwards across her back, ripping her shirt and the skin beneath it. She fought to get away but was being firmly held secure by the Mob strongman, Mumbo Jumbo. The bull like robot was snorting and laughing at her struggles. Without her armor, she was only a little stronger than an average weightlifter of her size. Another scream was torn from her as Mon*Star once more slashed his claws across her back, leaving bloody furrows in his wake.

He was about to make another pass when an enraged primal scream ripped through the room as Zan barreled into the Planet Master, slamming him to the ground. Before he had a chance to recover, Yessman was thrown into him full force.

Mumbo Jumbo dropped the struggling woman to the ground so that he could take care of the other one that was attacking. She was like liquid silver, slipping though his grasp only to slam him with powerful attacks that rivaled those he had received at the hands of the twin SilverHawks. He bellowed in pain and rage, dropping to all fours and pumping himself up to nearly twice his size.

Through her pained haze, Emily watched in shock and surprise as Zan fought like a wild pain maddened creature any that tried to get her. The remains of BuzzSaw was already scattered around the place.

At the same time, across the distance of space, Will let out a grunted yell as he felt the echoed pain of his sister. It felt like lines of fire were being ripped across his back.

"Hang in there big guy, we're almost there." Bluegrass muttered as he pushed the Maraj's engines to the max, the safeties were past the red line already.

Will didn't respond other than to grunt again, grinding his teeth together as once more fire ripped through his back. 'Hang on Sis! We're coming…. Please hang on,' he thought but knew she was too distracted and pained to hear him clearly.

The sudden shock and surprise echoed though the bond, causing Will to gasp. "Shit!" he muttered.

"What? Will, what's happening?" Jon asked in concern. He knew he should never have let Emily go met Phantom alone. No matter what was said.

"She's attacking them…." Will gasped out.

"Who's attacking who?"

"Zan… she's…. oh god!…. she…." Will gasped.

_~Two Hours ago~_

Zan waited, leaning against a stack of crates waiting for Emily to arrive. A cig was dangling from one hand, the other rested on the laser pistol grip at her side. She didn't like this, not one little bit. Still, maybe Emily did deserve a chance to explain herself. It wouldn't hurt her to listen.

A flash of red heralded the Silverhawk's arrival. Emily wasn't in her armor. She was thinner, Zan noticed. She carried a laser pistol at her side, too. Fense tended to evoke that sort of thing in a person..

"Hey", she called softly to the redhead. Emily swiveled around to look at Zan, she didn't seem surprised. Emily walked over lightly, not making a sound.

"So, is there anywhere more comfortable than this to talk?" Emily asked softly.

"No," Zan grunted. "At least, nowhere that someone won't try to throttle you."

Emily winced. "That would get noticed, fast. No, here is fine, I guess." The silence grew, heavy and uncomfortable.

"Well?" Zan snarled. "Are you going to say anything?"

She felt Emily's eyes bore into hers, a grey blue gaze that pinned her in place. "Are you going to listen?" Emily replied, still in that soft voice.

Zan scowled, then forced herself to relax. This was getting nowhere. "So, why you? Were you planned bait?"

Emily recoiled as if she had been struck, then looked back up, anger blazing in her eyes. "No", she spat. "We didn't know anything about you. That was the problem. Unknown are not a good thing around here. Anything we don't know about can get us killed, we've had too many close calls. Someone had to find out if you were friend or foe. I was the only one who had a bat's chance in hell of pulling it off. So I went down, undercover. It didn't take much, no one had ever seen me out of armor. I set myself up as tech repair, it's my main job anyway." She shrugged.

"With muscles like those?" Zan had something that could almost be called a grin on her face.

Emily smiled sardonically. "I've often been told that I was merely given a body to match my attitude."

"Anyways, when the kid from the band came in with stuff, it was a chance I couldn't pass up. So I came to the concerts. I was impressed, you guys were good." Another sardonic smile. "You know what happened between us as well as I do, and it quite whomped me upside the head, I assure you. I would never have guessed it of myself, and conflict of interest doesn't even begin to describe it. I hadn't found anything on you, but your band members were quite another story. I knew exactly who they were, they've all shot at me too often for me not to. My reports got shorter and shorter. In the end, the field commander got suspicious, and followed me. That was the night all hell broke loose."

Emily stopped then, her eyes boring into Zan's. "That's the honest truth, whether or not you care to believe it"

Oddly enough, Zan did believe her. But did it really change anything? She exhaled, a long sigh that said more than words could.

"So where does that leave us?" Zan asked.

"I don't know", Emily replied, the intensity bleeding out of her eyes. "I really don't know, but I don't want it to leave us on bad terms."

Both women heard a noise then, a split second of something wrong, then something heavy and dark crashed onto both of them, sending them into blackness.

_~Now~_

"She what? Damn it Will. We need to know!" Jon growled in frustration. He hated not knowing what type situation they were going into. Especially if it involved Mon*Star.

Will gritted his teeth in similar frustration. He was only getting bits and pieces from Emily along with all the backlash of emotions though their bond. "I'm doing the best I can…. Damn it Em what the hell were you thinking?" the last muttered to himself. "From what I can… Gather, Phantom is single handedly attacking…. Fuck!" Reaching up with both hands and grabbing his head, he closed his eyes to get a better image. "…. Sorry…. She's attacking both Mon*Star and Mumbo Jumbo…. How the…. "

"Hate to interrupt Skipper, but Brim*Star dead ahead. We'll be there in less than 30 seconds. Want to launch or just land this bird?" Bluegrass asked.

"Launch 10 seconds out and land. We'll head straight in. Take down anything in your way. Got that SilverHawks?"

A chorus of affirmatives came back.

Right on the ten-second mark, they launched. They were running as soon as they hit the ground. Will was at the lead. He didn't care to think of what the dark wet patches was he was passing, or what was smeared across the walls, he just kept moving. He passed both Windhammer and Hardware, not stopping to spare them even a glance. The others though slowed to find out what was going on.

Jon demanding answers. "Where are they?"

"Mon*Star has gone fucking nuts!" Hardware said, holding one arm close as he waved the other about. "Off his rocker good this time! Yelling about how Phantom betrayed him and all sorts of shit! Nuts you hear me! Abso-fucking-lutly psycho Nuts!" He was wide eyed and more than a bit scared looking.

Windhammer looked to be sporting a growing bruise across his face as well as limping as he tried to drag Hardware along after him. "Shut your trap mechanic. If you want to live then you had better hurry up!" He also had that look of fear as he kept throwing glances over his shoulder, up the ramp towards the throne room.

Looks were exchanged between the 'Hawks and they took off after Will. They ignored the retreating Mobsters in favor of following their teammate. Mon*Star on a good day was dangerous enough. If he had flipped then it could become deadly. Very deadly indeed.

~ _One Hour ago~_

Mon*Star the Planet Master had called a meeting. Everyone was to show up or else. He never needed to state what that 'or else' meant. Those coming in from Fense and beyond were the last to show. Other than those still currently at the Penal Planet that is.

When the first had arrived they found the Planet Master sitting on his throne, both clawed hands curled over the ends, nails absently drumming slowly. At the foot of the throne was two covered mounds. One of which was splotched in spreading dark wet patches. No one said a word as they waited for him to say or do something. Yessman slithered around in the shadows behind the thrown, constantly rubbing his hands together as he muttered and hissed to himself. When the last one entered Mon*Star spoke.

"Well… it's so good of you to join us… Melodia, Timestopper… and PokerFace," his voice thick with derogatory sarcasm. The two humans shrank back some as the robotic third tried to utter some explanation. "Shut up" Mon*Star growled as he stood up and slowly descended the steps. He stopped when he was between the two covered objects on the floor. "There is… or was.. a traitor among us…" his voice low and ominous as he looked everyone over. "I've found that traitor and am now going to punish that traitor… And I want everyone to watch so that no ideas are even thought of about betraying me."

Yessman slithered out from the shadows, rubbing his hands together. "Yeeessss…. Puuuniisssssh….oohh.. goood one bossss," the snake man muttered softly.

Mon*star didn't say a word as he simply pointed to the stained sheeting. YessMan slithered out from behind the Mob Boss, snatching up the sheet. Gasps and mutters ran through the gathered Mobsters at the site of the person. They were expecting perhaps someone from Fense. Perhaps Zero or even Grodd, so they were completely taken aback at the site of Phantom, cloths torn and bloodied, gagged and bound, but glaring up at Mon*Star.

It was several silence filled moments before anyone spoke. "But-but…", "What have you..", "Criky no, not Phantom..", "On no…Zan…", "She's never been with…." They all spoke at once, those that

"SILENCE!" Mon*Star roared at them, eyeing the five that had spoken out. His eye narrowed dangerously as the star glowed a menacing red. Everyone cringed back, moving out of his reach somewhat. He now knew who to keep a closer eye on. Those that voiced objections.

_~Now~_

Will paused to take everything in. He had seen, though Emily's eyes, Mon*Start delivering the killing blow to Phantom. But now he watched as the Planet Master drew his clawed hand out of her chest. The Mob Boss moved in slow, jerky backwards motion. To one side of the room, the remains of BuzzSaw lay scattered about, along with the downed Mumbo Jumbo and YessMan. Nearby, Emily lay on the blood stained floor, blood dripping up her back from the cold stone floor. Her eyes slowly fluttering closed. To the other side stood Melodia, hands on TimeStopper's shoulder as he clenched his hands, teeth drawing blood from his lip where he bit though it in concentration. The clock in the middle of his chest slowly going in reverse of what was normal.

The SilverHawk could almost see a hazy glowing outline around everything in the room but those two. A moment later, the rest of the 'Hawks showed up. Gasps and utterances of shock passed through them at the site. Will held up his hand a moment, hissing at them to be quiet. He had figured out what TimeStopper was doing. He was reversing the flow of time.

"He's mine," was all the warning the big man gave before he crouched down in a ready position. A moment later he shot off at a dead run, shoulder down to tackle the Planet Master away from Phantom.

Jon quickly took control of the situation. "Bluegrass, you and the Kidd go get those two," pointing at Melodia and TimeStopper. "I'll help Will and MoonStryker can.." The sound of retching was unmistakable as they turned to see MoonStryker empting the content of his stomach over near the door.. "I'll Grab Em." He gave vomiting 'Hawk a disgusted look before taking off to grab Emily.

The sound of Will colliding into the Planet Master was very audible. And it also broke TimeStopper's concentration. Everything flickered once then once more before returning to normal.

AS Will Charged forward he hit the Time reversal field, he knew he would have to fight to make any forward progress. The moment Bluegrass and the Copper Kidd interrupted TimeStopper's concentration, time started to flow normally. The sound of his impact into the Planet Master echoed around the throne room. Unlike other encounters with the Monstrous Mob Boss, he was unarmored this time. The Burly SilverHawk heard and felt bones crunch.

Mon*Star on the other had never saw it coming. One moment he had the traitor's heart in his claws and was ripping it out of her chest, the next moment he was standing there above the traitor ready to rip her heart out then being tackled by a SilverHawk. He felt his ribs and side take the full force brunt of the attack. He felt himself being picked up then slammed back down onto the ground several more times, dazing him.

"Will! Grab her and get moving! We don't have the time to fool around with Him," Quicksilver said from the doorway, an unconscious Emily in his arms. Her blood creating strange patters across his armor from where it dripped or was smeared.

Will slammed Mon*Star down one more time before standing up. "If she dies Mon*Star, consider yourself one step away from being taken out of the game." He then walked from the Mob Boss and picked up Phantom's battered, bloody body and walked out of the throne room.

AS soon as he passed the doors, he sped up. Passing MoonStryker who was still looking quite green, he just ignored him and kept moving. Within moment's he was in the hanger where the Maraj sat waiting. He spotted the others loading up. All he did was raise an eyebrow at the fact that both Melodia and TimeStopper both were with the others, he could ask questions later.

"Where's MoonStryker?" Jon asked as he carefully slid into the pod. Emily was laying on her stomach, unconscious once more, next to him.

"Lagging behind," Will replied as he also maneuvered into his pod with Phantom.

"Figures," Muttered Bluegrass as he made sure the Kidd was able to get in the pod since TimeStopper, Also unconscious, was already laying there. "Ok Kidd, might be crowded but in ya go."

The Kidd Whistled, forming his hand into the OK sign then climbed in.

"Come on," Bluegrass said to Melodia as he took her by the arm and led her to the HotSeat's cockpit. He hopped in and pulled her up into it with him, making sure she wouldn't interfere with his piloting. "All ready to go Skipper."

"Give it 10 more seconds then get going. If MoonStryker isn't here and in his pod by then he can fly home on his own," the lieutenant said as he pressed some folded up cloth along the worse of the wounds on Emily's back.

No one said a word of protest about that decision.

"We ain't got the time Jon," Will said. His fingers lay against the pulse point in Phantom's neck. Even with the extra sensors in his armor, he was finding her pulse getting weaker as the second's ticked by.

"Get us back to the station Bluegrass," Jon said.

"Aye, Aye skipper," came the reply from the cockpit. The engines roared to life as he maneuvered out of the garage like bay and headed at full speed back towards Hawk Haven.

Just as MoonStryker arrive, he saw the tail end of the Maraj as it vanished out the cavernous Garage. Several emotions crossed his features as he clenched his hands into fists. Anger and disgust were foremost.

"Don't like to come in Last?" Came the smooth voice of the Mob's Gambling Boss.

"What's it to you?" Snarled the SilverHawk, before stalking away.

PokerFace just chuckled as he walked to where one of the Limbo Limo's sat. It was the one that he, Melodia and TimeStopper came in. "Need a Lift.. SilverHawk?"

MoonStryker just looked back over at the Mobster, lifting an eyebrow at the offer. "What's the catch?" Crossing his arms over his chest, a not so subtle hint that he had his lasers trained on the Robotic Mobster.

"Why there's no catch at all," Replied PokerFace, a smirking smile gracing his features.

MoonStryker let out a bark of laughter. "There's always a catch with you guys."

A roar echoed down the through the halls and corridors. Mon*Star was apparently up and about again.

PokerFace made a move to get in the Limo fast. "Call it mutual protection from a rather irate Mob Boss!" MoonStryker agreed rather quickly with it and was in the limbo limo with the mobster. They departed out of the fortress as if a demon was on their tails.

Before the 'Hawks were even half way home, they were already in contact with the medical staff. Two teams of medics were waiting, each one prepping for the incoming wounded. Seeing how Phantom was in the direr situation, the team prepping for her arrival took precedence over the team that was waiting on Emily's arrival. Even though Emily was a SilverHawk and Phantom wasn't.

AS soon as the Maraj had landed, it was swarmed by the medical staff. Both women were removed from the pods, before either men could say more than a word or two. They whisked away Phantom, then a moment later Emily was also gone. Left behind was a too quiet silence, the Patrol group, and two mobsters. One of whom was unconscious, the other in deep shock.

Everyone climbed out of the ship, Except for Melodia and TimeStopper that was, and stood there in silence. Eyes followed the red trail of blood that lead from the pods to the elevator. No one was sure what to say or do at this moment. Then Jon finally spoke.

"James... you and the Kidd take Melodia and TimeStopper down to the holding cells... Will and I need to... " he glanced down at the bloody streaks on his armor and swallowed, looking paler then normal. "We need to get cleaned up. I'll report to the Commander.. after..."

"uh.. yeah, right Skipper, will do," James said as he turned around to hand Melodia down. "Come on Melodia, time to get out of there..." he said softly to the nearly catatonic woman. He hid a wince as she flinched away from him at first, but then shakily got out of the pod.

Everyone stopped to look as the Elevator opened and out came both HotWing and Condor. The mage paled at the state everyone was in, Condor just grimaced.

"You guys go get cleaned up, we'll take care of this," Condor said gesturing to the rest of the group to get going.

Jon just nodded. "... thanks. MoonStryker should be showing up soon... have him give you a hand with this then tell him to report to me."

Condor and HotWing nodded.

James moved to the Kidd's pod and pulled TimeStopper out of it, slinging the young man over his shoulder after removing the time clock from off his chest. He then headed for the Elevator with Melodia following behind, guided by the Kidd. Inside the Elevator, there was still small puddles and splotches of blood that had yet to be cleaned up, as well as bloody foot prints that overlapped. While the two SilverHawk's kept their eyes upwards away from the evidence that something terrible had happened, Melodia had been looking down.

All she saw was the dark and bright red of the spreading liquid that seemed to move on its own. That triggered the memories of what happened over the past hour. She wrapped her arms about herself, flinching away from the stains.

Both 'Hawk's noticed her movement and glanced at each other. The Kidd took a step towards her only to have her cringe away, raising a hand as if to fend off a blow. The Kidd whistled in concern, glancing at Bluegrass. The Pilot only half-heartedly shrugged in reply. There was little they could really do. Though when the Mob Moll started to mutter something, they became more concerned.

"Oh god, oh god..." she cringed away, raising a hand to fend off what she imagined as a possible blow. All she saw was the red of the Kidd's armor and her mind did the rest, plastering the Image of Mon*Star in his place. "Please.. no... don't..." Moving away from the pair, she stepped into one of the larger puddles of blood. She looked down again then started to scream.

The Kidd couldn't even get close to her without her reacting even worse. It took Bluegrass grabbing her and slapping her to break her out of it. "Get a hold of yourself woman."

Melodia stopped screaming, but instead started to whimper. "I think I'm going to be sick..." She raised her hands to her face.

Luck was with them as the elevator door opened, reveling the line of holding cells. Melodia bolted out of the elevator to the nearest holding cell and into the bathroom attached to it. The sound of her being quite ill could be heard.

"Oh man.." Bluegrass said as he walked out, following the Kidd. He placed TimeStopper on one of the pull down bunks then moved to the bathroom door. "... You gonna... umm... be ok in there?"

A few moments of silence. ".. What do you think?" came the shaky reply. When Bluegrass made no reply, she spoke again. "Just... go away."

He reached up and scratched his forehead a moment then sighed. "Ya might wana.. take yer boots off, or at least clean the bottoms off," he pointed out.

A squealed 'Oh god!' preceded the sound of retching followed a few moments later by said boots being thrown rather violently out the door.

Bluegrass shook his head as he walked over to retrieve the boots. While she might not want to put them back on, let alone touch them after they were cleaned, he didn't want to leave anything in the holding cell that might hold any type of weapons.

The Kidd arrived with a mop bucket and a Rag as Bluegrass was walking out of the cell. He handed Bluegrass the rag then started to clean up the trail of bloody footprints. He then gestured to the bathroom and the few footprints that vanished into it.

Bluegrass nodded, then knocked on the door. "Uh.. Melodia.. Ma'am? Mind coming out for a moment so we can... er... clean up the... " The door opened but Melodia didn't come out, instead she just retreated to a corner, looking quite pale and shaken.

The Kidd neatly and quickly mopped up all evidence of the blood then retreated out of the holding cell. He had gotten the rest of it up to the elevator.

Bluegrass wiped clean Melodia's boots then set them down by the door and left the cell. Outside he activated the Energy field, then deactivated the controls by the cell opening so that the primary by the elevator was the only one that would turn the field on or off. The Pair then left the holding cell area.

Will had to be literally shoved out of the med bay and ordered to go get cleaned up, get some rest and some food before he could show back up. The Med staff informed him that they would keep him advised of his sister's condition. (Though more than likely he would know before them, but he didn't say that.)

Several hours later, he was still waiting outside the Med Bay for any information. Quicksilver had been by already to check on him. Currently HotWing was sitting nearby doing little sleight of hand tricks to try and keep his mind occupied. Bluegrass and the Kidd had wandered in some time earlier to check on the two also. In short, all but MoonStryker had been by at least once since they arrived back.

The sound of someone clearing their throat several times finally got Will's attention. It was the Commander.

"Any change?"

Will shook his head. "Not really, sir. Emily is stable but unconscious. Phantom is… She… They still haven't finished figuring out what-all's wrong with her, sir. It's… its real bad. She might not make it."

Stargazer nodded thoughtfully. "All right, Sergeant. Consider yourself on compassionate leave until Sergeant Steelheart is better." He turned a narrowed eye on the rest of the squad. "Are you all here trying to hold up the walls? There's work to do. I want that Red Menace from Brimm*Star in jail, and I want it yesterday. Now get to work."

In under 30 seconds the hallway was empty, except for Will and the Commander, the rest having saluted before quickly leaving. Stargazer just huffed a sigh then awkwardly patted Will on the shoulder before leaving to return to his office. Will just sat back down in the chair.

A couple of dozen very old magazines and several hours later, the head doctor came out. He looked around a moment then spotted Will. "aahh, Sergeant SteelWill…"

"Doc?" Will asked dropping the magazine onto the pile and standing up. "How's…"

The Doctor shook his head slightly. "We have managed to get her closer to stabilizing. But I am afraid there was still more damage that we are uncovering. Some of it quite a bit older than the rest." He glanced down at the clipboard in hand. "In order to repair the damage completely, we're going to need access to the stored cybernetic components here on Hawk Haven."

Will raised an eyebrow at that. He knew what was kept in storage, it was part of his and Emily's job to keep track of them as well as to order newer replacements when they were available. He then nodded.

"To have access to them, we are going to need the Commander's code and that means going to Stargazer to get it."

Will shook his head. "No… here's my code. Both Emily and I have access to the storage units that hold the cybernetics. Just take what you need. I'll handle the paperwork and pass it onto the Commander…."

"We won't need all of what's there, I assure you, just some key components that are not available to us on Bedlama," the Doctor nodded as he took the code. "Phantom has worked wonders in gaining us access to the latest and most advanced cybernetics accessible to non-military personal." Then he added, seeing Will's raised eyebrow. "All Legal I assure you."

Will nodded slightly. "OK. I take your word on that." He shook his head again. "Unlike others around here, I don't believe she has really done anything really illegal. Just…not quite to the letter of the law. Em's told me a bit about what she was doing on Fense." This time he shrugged before reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "Hate to say it, but since she showed up… we've had a drop in problems coming from Fense." Will paused in thought at his own words. "Hmmm…"

The Doctor nodded once more as he saw one of his team members motion for him. "I must go, I will keep you informed of our progress."

Will grunted once in thought before replying. "Thanks Doc." He headed towards the recovery rooms. Even though Emily was still unconscious, he could still talk with her some before starting the project that came to mind. He paused in the door way and stood there watching her.

Emily was laying on her stomach, swathed from shoulders to waist in bandages, an oxygen line looped under her nose, as well as IVs training from one forearm and hand up to the stand. Several bags hang from it, the slow drip of fluids measured by tiny blips on the monitors. The lights were down low for the moment in case she did wake.

Moving quietly across the floor, he took one of the chairs from along the wall and sat it next to the bed. Sitting down, he leaned forward slightly, brushing a few strands of hair from in front of Emily's face. "Hey sis," he said softly, not sure of what to say or how to say it. "You've always been there for me so I guess it's my turn to be here for you… Doc's not sure if Phantom's gonna make it, but have promised to give it their best, but I guess you know that already don't you?" He rested his arm on the bed, careful not to disturb either the IV lines or Emily. He set his chin on his arm a moment, then whispered "I know what happened there… I saw her… I watched through your eyes as that bastard drove his claws into her chest and ripped her heart out… I swore I was going to make that red menace pay for what he'd done… but when I stood in the doorway, I watched time stop and start to flow backwards. I couldn't believe what I saw, I still can't. But I'm not gonna question it either. Your alive, she's hanging on by a thread at the moment, but alive none the less. I know who she is now and I'm still hoping that I can get a chance to apologize for what happened so long ago…" He took a deep breath as he sat up straight and rubbed his face. He didn't want his anger at the thought of what happened get the better of him. Slowly letting it out, he shook his head. "Take it easy Sis, rest as much as you need. I'll be here when you wake." Standing, he moved the chair back to its place along the wall and walked out softly.

 

 

~Epilogue~

Will's time was spent either in the gym working out, or in the workshop tinkering with plans, blueprints and other odd assortment of things. The other hawks learned very fast not to ask what it was he was working on.

Emily's condition improved over the next few days, but she had yet to awaken from her unconscious state.

Phantom's surgery had lasted for 68 hours. Her condition was listed as critical but stable. When looked in on, she was swathed head to toe in bandages with IV's, tubes and monitor wires all over her body. The doctors had refused to move her due to that fact as well so she was placed in Hawk Haven's medical facility until she was deemed well enough to be moved to Bedlama. The Doctors forecasted at least a month before she was taken off the respirator and heart monitor, longer before she would come out of her coma like state.

As for Melodia and TimeStopper, on the way to the penal Planet, they were 'Rescued' by Hardware, WindHammer and PokerFace. The Peacekeepers responsible for transporting the two mobsters reported that everyone seemed more quiet than usual. There was no boasting, no shouting. Just in and out.


End file.
